Green Bay - Thousands of Green Bay Packers fans are and probably will remain incensed about management's decision to trade Brett Favre. Some are looking for reasons to dump on the Packers any way they can.[img_r]http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/packer/img/news/aug08/taaron20b.jpg[/img_r]

Green Bay's 0-2 start under Aaron Rodgers has provided some ammunition. Another defeat, against the Denver Broncos on Friday night, might very well lead to a fourth setback next week against the Tennessee Titans, who unlike most teams don't treat the finale as a throwaway.

If the Packers were to finish 0-4, it would mark just the third time in club history in which they lost every exhibition game. The pro-Favre faction would be crowing, the pro-Rodgers crowd might be back-tracking and the confidence of a young team could be threatened.

A month from now, few will remember what happens in Denver. Meaningless game or not, let's just say the Packers understand that in order to get people off their backs they will have to look sharp in the Mile High city.

"We need to lead the whole game, and we've got to win," wide receiver Donald Driver said. "We were a roller-coaster on Family Night, we played well against Cincinnati and we're back down in the dungeon now. We've got two preseason games to take hold of business."

Under coach Mike McCarthy, the Packers are 3-7 in exhibitions. Perhaps his poorest performance of the 10 was the 34-6 defeat on Saturday night in San Francisco.

McCarthy allowed that he didn't have the team prepared for the 49ers and that "we will get that done this week."

Starting Monday, the Packers worked almost exclusively against schemes employed by the Broncos. Like most coaches, McCarthy counts the third exhibition as a dress rehearsal for the regular season. He displayed little levity this week.

"We want to win every game, preseason or not," said Mike Stock, the special teams coach. "But there's a pride factor compared to how we played last week."

There's an old maxim in the National Football League that any team can win any exhibition game if it's sufficiently motivated to do so. Certainly the Packers have motivation, but the Broncos should be at least equally prepared and maybe as inspired.

Coming off an excellent performance Saturday in a 23-13 victory over Dallas, Denver is 1-1. Coach Mike Shanahan plans to play most of his starters into the third quarter, as does McCarthy. But unlike McCarthy, who in the past has played his No. 1's for about a quarter in the finale, Shanahan won't even use starters next week.

The Broncos will be without three injured starters on offense, but their No. 1 defense will line up intact.

Bob Slowik, the Broncos' first-year defensive coordinator, went blitz-crazy in the summer of 2004 when he was coordinating for the Packers. Maybe Slowik will attack Rodgers after viewing what damage the 49ers caused, but in the first two games he hasn't brought much pressure.

"We're not putting pressure on ourselves, but we definitely want to get some momentum going into the season," said Rodgers. "There's only one way to go after last week. We've got to get into a rhythm and get some points on the board."

The Packers rank 31st in scoring with 23 points, three more than St. Louis. Their point differential of minus-31 ranks last in the NFL.

New England, Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas fill out the ranks of the winless.

"Dallas is 0-2," cornerback Will Blackmon said. "Do you think they're concerned? But, in our case, it's new. The Brett era is gone. We've got the Aaron era. Everyone is still feeling each other out. People here need something to go off of."

Although the Packers have been playing in the NFL since 1921, they've played three or more exhibition games in 69 years. Their 0-3 starts were 1946, '52, '83, '87 and '93. The only years when they lost every exhibition game were '46 (0-3) and '87 (0-4).

The '87 season was Forrest Gregg's fourth as coach in Green Bay. The lowlight that summer was a 33-0 loss to Washington in which the crowd at Camp Randall Stadium offered mock cheers when the Packers finally made a first down on their 10th possession.

Afterward, Gregg apologized to the fans.

"I can't ever remember being this disgusted," said Gregg. "I thought we were way past that childish mediocrity. I was embarrassed that a team I'm supposed to be coaching would show up like that."

Nowadays, most coaches seek to hide their emotions in press conferences. Beyond closed doors, however, little has changed.

McCarthy has barked to his players that the 49ers' showing was unacceptable and it's time to get with the program.

"You can't just go into the regular season and think you're going to flip a switch," tackle Mark Tauscher said. "This team needs to start kind of getting moving offensively."

For his part, general manager Ted Thompson viewed the Denver game basically as just another opportunity to evaluate players on what he regards as a confident team.

"Oh and 3 in the pre-season could mean something, could not mean something," cornerback Charles Woodson said. "The focus is to play well, of course. Not to look like we did last week.

"But the focus is going to be on Sept. 8. Our first few games are tough games. I think that will be the biggest test for the team, rather than if we were to go 0-3 in preseason."

"I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything." - Nikola Tesla

If the Packers were to finish 0-4, it would mark just the third time in club history in which they lost every exhibition game. The pro-Favre faction would be crowing, the pro-Rodgers crowd might be back-tracking and the confidence of a young team could be threatened.

That's ridiculous in every way except for the confidence of the team part.

It's the preseason. EVERY year, people talk and talk about how meaningless the preseason is as an indicator of the regular season. EVERY year, articles ignore it because they have nothing else to say this time of year.

i agree, lt. at first, i felt like "are you serious - a must win in preseason?" but with more thought, just playing better than we did last week is what's most important. ending preseason games on the upswing can't hurt.

I thnik this is a must win only from a fan's perception basis. I mean if we don't win does that mean we can't beat the Vikes in the opener or have a good season? Of course we can.

We don't have Grant. Jennings may get in a little work. McCarthy will jeopordize no player with a bump bigger than a dime for more than a couple plays if any.

It would be nice to get a "W" but really this team will not be the team that takes the field when the season starts. Like the first game where we were up 10-0 when most the starters came out if our first team is winning when they leave the field I call it a win.

If our starters leave the game with us ahead and Shanaprick leaves his starters in there a couple mores series and that turns out to be the difference will one person on this board really be upset?

I thnik this is a must win only from a fan's perception basis. I mean if we don't win does that mean we can't beat the Vikes in the opener or have a good season? Of course we can.

We don't have Grant. Jennings may get in a little work. McCarthy will jeopordize no player with a bump bigger than a dime for more than a couple plays if any.

It would be nice to get a "W" but really this team will not be the team that takes the field when the season starts. Like the first game where we were up 10-0 when most the starters came out if our first team is winning when they leave the field I call it a win.

If our starters leave the game with us ahead and Shanaprick leaves his starters in there a couple mores series and that turns out to be the difference will one person on this board really be upset?

There is no such thing as a must-win in preseason. This game is a "must-play-well", but not a must-win.

"There's the snap, Rodgers with a quick drop - in trouble! AND SACKED BY ALLEN! The ball is lose, the ball is lose, and recovered by Kevin Williams! And that's the ball game! Childress and the Vikings FINALLY beat the Packers!" --

There is no such thing as a must-win in preseason. This game is a "must-play-well", but not a must-win.

bingo.

Agreed.

I try not to put any stock in any pre season game, however, I try to gather as much as I can from each in hopes of figuring out what is going to come during the regular season.

It's never worked. Yet, I keep trying. lol

I expect the passing game to be similar to what it was against the Bengals, but with the Bronco's for all intent purposes being the daddy of zone blocking... I think we might struggle a bit against the run.

The theory on that is their defense knows what to look for, as does ours, but maybe they know more of the tricks to stopping it?

"I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything." - Nikola Tesla

People may over look a loss as being a worthless game. But its really not in the pre season. You can still take a lot away from a pre season game. But none are really meaningful as far as wins and losses.

I understand that it's still the preseason and blah blah blah, I get that. A win isn't something you need in the preseason, but I am not going to act like a win is completely worthless at this point. Yeah, I think playing well should be a priority, and this team can play well enough to win, I believe that. The team should feel like this is a must win game. The team should believe every game is a must win game. Any time this team is on the field, they should be out there to win. I'm not saying they should play the first team for the whole game, but give these guys something to play for. Preseason or not, no one likes to lose, right?

I hope to see the offensive line improve their play, brandon jackson to pick up blitzing lb'ers and actually make a cut ad run trough a hole. A-Rod trow the ball away instead of being sacked four times in thirty minutes...if that all happens, we may see a packers victory.

So if you meet me Have some courtesy, Have some sympathy, and some taste Use all your well-learned politesse, Or I'll lay your soul to waste

If the Packers were to finish 0-4, it would mark just the third time in club history in which they lost every exhibition game. The pro-Favre faction would be crowing, the pro-Rodgers crowd might be back-tracking and the confidence of a young team could be threatened.

That's ridiculous in every way except for the confidence of the team part.

It's the preseason. EVERY year, people talk and talk about how meaningless the preseason is as an indicator of the regular season. EVERY year, articles ignore it because they have nothing else to say this time of year.

+1

The sad thing is people will take shots at the Packers at any chance they get now. Whether it'd be justified or not.

If the Packers were to finish 0-4, it would mark just the third time in club history in which they lost every exhibition game. The pro-Favre faction would be crowing, the pro-Rodgers crowd might be back-tracking and the confidence of a young team could be threatened.

That's ridiculous in every way except for the confidence of the team part.

It's the preseason. EVERY year, people talk and talk about how meaningless the preseason is as an indicator of the regular season. EVERY year, articles ignore it because they have nothing else to say this time of year.

+1

The sad thing is people will take shots at the Packers at any chance they get now. Whether it'd be justified or not.

Very true. The thing is, we could have very well had the same results in our last two games with Brett as QB. The difference is, we all know Brett wouldn't play 16 games like that. We all hope Aaron Rodgers doesnt, but we don't "know" he won't.

"I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything." - Nikola Tesla

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